When Roses Wither
by Chloe Chamberleign
Summary: After losing her older brother to an accident, fourteen-year-old Kate can't help but feel responsible for her brother's death. She feels even more depressed because, as a girl, she cannot work on the family farm in nineteenth-century Kansas, so when her father brings home an orphan boy to help with the chores, Kate feels even worse.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:/ Be sure to check out my other stories, "Tic Toc Game" "Through the Looking Glass" and others. **

**Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, persons, or places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, events, and locations are the products of my imagination.**

**Summary: After loosing her older brother through a tragic accident, fourteen-year-old Kate can't help but feel responsible. She feels even more depressed because as a female she cannot work on the family farm in nineteenth-century Kansas, so when her father brings home an orphan boy to help with the chores, Kate feels even more useless.**

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_Chapter 1: S__torms of the Heart_

Ma doesn't like me helping outside in the fields, especially during the hot summers. She says a girl my age should be going to school and learning how to run a proper home. She has tried to teach me to mend clothes, and tend to little children, and fix broken items around the house. But I like helping Pa out in the fields. Ma insists I wear a bonnet so I don't get my face burned from the sun. The bonnet is itchy, and my hair gets so hot from under it that I begin to sweat, which is also something she disapproves of. I recall her beckoning me to put it on that cool August evening two years ago.

"Kathleen Patricia Hadley."

I pause at the sound of her voice. The use of my full name usually indicates that I'm in trouble. "Y-yes, ma'am?"

"Where do you think you're going?" She crosses her arms over her apron, tilting her head. I have her brown eyes but Pa's dark hair. She points to the table I was before sitting at. "You haven't finished your sampler." My eyes drift over toward my half-finished needle-work, and I fidget with my hands.

"Yes, well, I was kind of hoping to take a tiny break," My reasoning is met with her stern look which I know all too well. "That is, if that is okay with you."

She raises an eyebrow.

"Please? I just want to get some fresh air."

Ma finally relaxes her arms and nods. "Don't forget your bonnet," she reminds me as she turns back into the kitchen. I grin and grab my bonnet which rests on the table. "Oh, and go find your Pa and your brother. It's time for supper!" She calls as I close the door.

I pick up my skirts and run towards the barn where Pa is milking Daisy, one of our cows. "Supper's ready!" I called to him.

Pa looks up and takes the bucket of milk in his hands. "Alright. Your brother's repairing the fence. And mind you don't scare the chickens!"

"Yes, sir." I mutter. I hurry over to the picket fence and find Casey, my seventeen year old brother. "Ma says supper's ready."

Casey looks up at me and wipes his forehead with a bandanna. He takes off my bonnet and raises his eyebrows. "Why do girls wear these things?" He asks, his voice light and full of humor.

I snap his suspenders and laugh. "Why do boys wear those things?" I ask, pointing to the suspenders.

His eyes are light with laughter. "Well played," He turned his eyes up to the sky. "Storm's comin'."

I looked up at the sky too, as clear and blue as Ma's bed sheets hanging out on the clothesline. "Either you've got some kind of sixth sense, or Ma dropped you as a baby."

Casey laughs and stretches his back.

"Should we take the hay in?" I ask.

Casey sweeps in and picks me up, tickling me until I can't breathe. "Or we could just take you in." He teases, and then sets me down and slings an arm around me as we walk toward the barn.

"Casey!" Pa calls from the door. "I need your help bringing in the hay."

"All of it?" Casey calls. We have a whole field of hay drying in the prairie sun, but just one wagon, two horses, a few pitches, and our own hands.

"Anything left on the ground will be too wet for use, Case," Pa said as he led Travis, one of our horses, into the barn. "What we don't get in, we lose."

"What if it's only going to thunder and lightning? Maybe it won't rain," I said, following Pa and Casey. Casey has never been wrong in about storms rolling in, but sometimes lightning and thunder travel without rain.

"Then we better get the hay in before it catches fire," Pa said, backing Travis to the wagon. "And the sooner you and Casey quit flapping your mouths, the sooner we can get out there."

"Yes, sir," Casey and I answered simultaneously.

Within a few minutes, we were in the field, Pa and me pitching the from the windrows on either side of the wagon, and Casey packing it on the hay net, Travis and Lilly munching their share until Pa prodded them to move forward. He treated those two horses as if they were prized hunting dogs. They'd jump over each other if he asked them to.

The sun baked me until I felt my skin burn and sting every time I moved. I was for once grateful for the sun bonnet. We still only had a quarter of the field done when the thunderclouds rolled in, casting long gray shadows and putting a nice chill in the air.

"Hurry up, Casey!" Pa shouted. "We've got a storm chasing us."

And chase it did. The clouds swept in from the east. We picked hay to the north. The thunder kept booming loudly overhead. Made Lilly and Travis jittery. They went to side stepping and flicking their ears. The first lightning strike made Lilly whinny. Casey yelled, "It's getting close!"

But we only had the wagon three-quarters full on this run. The storm had beaten us. And Pa knew it.

Throwing his fork into the wagon, he yelled, "Better save what we can than risk it for what we can't. Let's bring this load in."

We pulled up to the barn as the wind picked up. I headed out to bring the other animals in and close the shutters around the windows of the house. Pa jumped down, pitch in hand. "Get that net ready to haul, Case!"

"Yes, sir!" Casey's arms looked about ready to fly off but he pitched the hay into the net with ease. The storm heated up, the thunder grew louder, the lightning cracked harder, and the air grew damp like it does just before rain.

Travis and Lilly kept jolting the wagon every time lightning struck. I backed up to help Casey with the last load of hay, when lightning struck again and the horses jostled the wagon. I stumbled backwards, hitting my head on the wagon. I fell in front of the horses and rubbed the back of my head. Luckily for me, there was no blood. Thunder boomed, and Travis and Lilly jumped in the air, getting ready to run.

"Kathleen!" Casey yelled, and he dove from where he was standing, and pushed me out of the way. The rest seemed to happen in slow motion. Thunder crashed dead above me. The horses jumped forward. I fell back, and watched helpless as the horses charged toward the house, crushing Casey beneath their hooves.

My mind gobbled up the world all at once, and then spit it back to me in little slow-moving pictures.

Casey hurries back out the door. The sky is turning grey pretty fast, and the first few drops of rain begin to fall. I watched from the window as Pa and Casey pitched the hay in the wagon as quick as lightning. Speaking of lightning, the crack of lightning was visible in the sky as thunder boomed over the prairie. This was bad, for the hay could catch fire if lightning struck it. I saw the gray, splintered wheel of the wagon turning, Pa's pitchfork dropping to the floor and ricocheting. The next thing I remember was Pa carrying Casey's limp body. Ma opened the door and quickly helped lay him on the bed. She took off his boots. Casey looked awful. Ma was crying, ruffling his wet hair back, and telling him to breathe. But I could tell he wasn't breathing, and so did Pa. I didn't feel the shock of it all like Ma did. I guess it was because I was too stunned to react. Casey, my humorous, caring, protective older brother, was gone.

Ma looked over at him, her eyes red and puffy. "Come on, wake up," she whimpered. I looked away. Wake up? I don't think anyone can wake up from being trampled to death by horses. "Casey? Casey?!"

Casey doesn't move. Ma's eyes cloud with tears at the realization. "No!" She screams, her voice overpowered by the thunderstorm outside. "No," she cries into his shirt. "Why, baby, why?!"

Pa sits down next to her and gently takes her away from the body. He places a blanket over Casey. Ma brings Belle and me close to her. She's crying so hard I'm afraid she'll drown.

I hear Ma crying most of the night, and then I hear Pa telling her that Casey is in a better place. I silently cry into my pillow. If he hadn't had saved me, I would've been lying in his place. I knew then that nothing would ever be the same again.

**Like so far? Let me know what how this story is doing so far. Please leave a review telling me what kinds of things you want to happen in the next chapters. Thanks for reading chapter one! ;)**

**~Chloe~**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey it's Chloe. I just wanted to let you know that I will not be continuing this story on my fanfiction page. If you wish to continue reading, please visit fiction press. My username is PersephoneWrites. Thanks!**

**~Chloe~**


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